How to use Bitcoin Core as a wallet without leaving no traces that used the wallet?

Question

is it possible to open a wallet file, do transactions and anything you need, then backup the file inside a veracrypt container, move this file elsewhere outside of the drive running the full node and delete the unencrypted wallet.dat as well as the veracrypt container after moving it via shred or some other wipe option to really delete the files, and then make it impossible to know that this node was used to transact and make it appear as just an empty node in case that someone gained access to the node? (for instance, a government that passes a law that says running a node incriminates you as a potential Bitcoin holder that didn't pay taxes or what have you, which I think will happen in the future).

Anyway, the idea is to not leave any traces that you used the node to actually hold and transact any BTC but just as someone that altruistically supports the network but technically does not hold any, in case an attacker got in your house and saw you running the node.

I was considering using a Tails Live CD session. Install Bitcoin Core there eachtime one needs to transact or create new addresses, and since everything runs on the RAM, it would leave no traces, but im not sure if this is possible. Of course before shutting down the session the wallet.dat would go inside a veracrypt container and moved elsewhere

Which ideas do you have for this? plase let me know. Cheers

Answer 1

Not entirely sure how to answer this question since I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve. But from what I'm reading, it looks like you're trying to send Bitcoin in a manner which is untraceable on your system.

If that is the case, then you don't need to run a full node. Transactions are stateless, so as long as you have the necessary information as well as software and/or libraries, you can craft the transaction entirely offline (on an airgapped computer) .

You just need:

• Knowledge of the private key

• Wallet's inputs

• Knowledge of the recipient's address whom you want to send it to

• Software or knowledge of how to craft the transaction and properly serialize it before signing

Once you've done those things, you can send your transaction through to any node to broadcast it. The decentralized nature of the network makes it inherently difficult for someone to trace exactly which point your transaction entered into the network.

There are multiple different websites you could use to paste your signed UTXO to.

Addressing the Node Issue

Whether you use your node or not, it will still be used by the network to relay transactions. This is how Bitcoin's network works. So whether they are your transactions or not, your node will be relaying someone's transaction(s).

From what I understand, node discovery is ephemeral to a certain extent - so once you 'tear down' your node, so to speak, peers will cease gossiping about the existence of said node because it is no longer a discoverable peer.

Concluding

It seems that you're under the impression that you must run a full node in order to send a transaction autonomously and this is not the case.

In fact, in my opinion, if you're really looking to send transactions through to the network in a manner that does not reveal that you ever transacted with Bitcoin, you would be best off crafting your transaction offline entirely, then finding a site somewhere that allows you to broadcast the transaction through their node (preferably via API if possible).

Doing this will ensure that your identity remains protected.

If running a full node is mandatory for you though for some reason, there's really no way to do so in a particularly private manner since the purpose of running a node is to be discoverable by the network and assist in relaying information to the rest of the peers around you.